Certain articles, such as kitchen furniture or appointments, articles of clothing or automobiles, can be configured as desired by the individual customer. It is, for example, common practice that a buyer of a new motor vehicle determines first the type of article, i.e. he selects the type and the model at the respective car dealer. The thus determined article is then configured by the customer. The customer has the possibility of freely selecting various article designs. The term article design can stand for technical features, such as the type of engine provided and technical options. Article design in the sense of the present invention is, however, especially the design of the article appealing to the aesthetic sense, i.e. the colour of the outer paint finish, the colour of the upholstery, the type of upholstery, the colour of trim strips, the colour of keters, the type of wood or the grain of wood inlays, etc.
Renowned car manufacturers offer nowadays the possibility of configuring a vehicle over the Internet, via terminals or via CD-Roms made available to the customer. On the respective page of the enterprise, the potential buyer is first requested to select a type of article, i.e. a specific model of the car manufacturer. Subsequently, the article is designed as desired by the individual customer, guided by a menu. The customer is conducted through various selection areas in which he has to select first e.g. the desired engine, a design package, then the colour of the vehicle, the type of upholstery, etc. In the case of this menu guidance, all the fields must be worked through in the predetermined sequence. The selection of a specific article design has the effect that the initially selected type of article displayed in the form in question on the screen will be represented in accordance with the selected article design. For example, the article design selection “colour of the outer paint finish” will, after selection of a desired colour by the customer, be realized by a processor, which is associated with the screen, and the type of article displayed on the screen will be shown with the desired colour. A corresponding to realization is imaginable for the selection of the wheel rims, the selection of the colour of the upholstery, perhaps the selection of the type of upholstery, etc.
When vehicles are being configured, data originating from the engineering departments of the respective car manufacturers are often used for graphically representing the type of article. These data allow arbitrary three-dimensional views of the type of article selected. When a motor vehicle is being configured, it is therefore known to show to the user the motor vehicle that it just being configured in any three-dimensional representation desired. For example, enlarged details can be zoomed in; the vehicle to be configured can be rotated. A view into the passenger compartment of the vehicle can be shown as well. The representation of these various, preferably three-dimensionally represented views normally takes place on a stationary screen.
In the prior art, the selection of a type of article, and especially of the respective article designs, is carried out via an input unit. This input unit can be defined by a keyboard or a mouse operating device. Frequently, so-called touch screens are used for inputting data, since a touch screen can be handled easier and more playfully by the user. Nevertheless, also the user using a touch screen has to work through the predetermined areas in the given sequence so as to take all the decisions for configuring his vehicle.
The known systems are therefore inflexible. In addition, they require a certain amount of practice in handling a computer, at least via the touch screen. The handling of the programs for carrying out the configuring necessitates familiarization at least to a certain degree. In addition, it should be taken into consideration that the age of persons who buy most frequently a new car is approx. 46. Such persons cannot be expected to deal with a computer quite naturally. Irrespectively of his age, the user of a configurator will feel himself restricted with regard to his freedom of design by the given menu, and this will definitely have a negative effect on the fun of configuring an article to be ordered. Finally, mere representations on a screen do not provide the possibility of sufficiently experiencing the effect of the selected designs and of their interplay when the configuring process has been finished. This applies in particular to cases where design elements having a texture and specific haptic properties are to be selected and combined with one another.